Mechanical musical instrument



G. Q. CHASE.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL INSTRUMENT; APELICATION Hugo v.21. 1919.

1,412,386. PatentedA .-11,1922.

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APPLICATION mo mum. 1919.

1,412,3 Patented Apr. 11, 1922.

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Gnoneno. CHASE, or SAN rmncrsoo, CALIFORNIA.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE Q cflAsE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of San Franci co and State of California, have invented a certain new and useful Mechanical Musical Instrument, of which ,the following is a specification.

and particularly to means for the production of solo effects,

An object of the invention. to provide improved means operating in conjunction with the piano action, for-the production of solo efiects.

Another object of theinvention isto provide a player piano in which the means for producing the solo effects are'mounted on the rest rail. I

The invention possesses other advantageous features, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth at length in the following description, where I shall outline in full, thati'orm of the invention which I have selected for illustration in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the present. specification. In said'drawings I have shown one specific form of the appara tus of my invention, but it is to be understoodthat I do not limit myself to such form,

since the invention, as expressed in said claims, may be embodied in a plurality of forms Referring to said drawings Figure 1 is a cross section of a portion of the piano action showing the apparatus of ranged thereon. i

Player pianos provided with pneumatics' for varying the strokeof selected piano hammers or of all oi the han'nners have heretotore been constructed, but in such player pianos, the pneumatics have been arranged above the hammers and have been connected by cords'or rods with movable hammer rests, the position of which determined the stroke of the hammers." i

In accordance with my inventionthe pn eumatics which "control the positions of the sectional hammer rests are arranged directly on. the rest rail behind the hammer shanks The invention relates to player pianos.

tions in the note sheet.

MECHANICAL MUSICAL]: INSTRUMENT.

V l Specification of Letters Patent. P te ted Apr. 11, 1922.

Application filed January 21, 191 9. Serial No. 272,360.

and the sectional rests are attached or secured to "the movable walls of the pneuniatics. The rests may be loosely pivoted to the pneuniatics so that they move or oscillate on the pneumatics' as they are inflated or deflated, thereby eliminatingfriction between shanks in contact therewith.

The movable hammerrest is divided into sections of equal or unequal lengths, depend:

ing upon the number of hammers that it is desirable to control with each sectional rest,

and the sectional rests are individually moved to various positions between the exthesectional rests and the hammer shank or tremes of theirbodily movement to vary the I stroke of'thehammers associated therewith and consequently vary the production of solo effects.

bellows, and the pneumatic operation of secof apertures in the tracker bar by perfora- The exhaust of air from each sectional rest pneumatic is controlled by a valve which is operated by the uncovering of an aperture in the tracker bar, there being as many control apertures on the tracker bar as there are sectional rests. Means are also provided for manually mov- The sectional rests are individually pneumatically moved to their varying positions depending upon the degree of exhaus-. tion' in the wind chest caused by the exhaust ing said sectional rests, preferably all simultaneously, to vary the stroke of. all of the hammers.

In accordance withvmy invention, the

pneumatics 3 for varying the positions of the sectional rests 4 are mounted on the face of the rest rail 5 adjacent the hammer shanks 6. The sectional-rest preferably engages the hammer'shank adjacent the hammer 7 and may be rigidly attached to themovable wall of the pneumatic or may beloosely pivoted to the hinge or bracket 8 secured to the movable wall 9 of the pneumatic. The hammer shank is pivoted on the bar 12 arranged below the rest rail and rests against the pivoted sectional rest I.

- Formed within the rest rail '5.is an exhaust duct or passage 13 which is connected to the windchest or the exhaust bellows, so that the degree of exhaustion in the duct 13 varies directlywith the exhaustion of'the wind chest. The duct 13 is connected with the valve ch'amber lt which in turn communicates with the pneumatic. The position of r the valve 15 is controlled by the diaphragm in the duct 13.

16, exposed on one side to the air suction and sealing a chamber 17 to which the tracker bar duct 18 is connected. lVhen the aperture in the tracker bar is uncovered, the dia phragm is'raised, lifting the valve 15 and causing the pneumatic to be exhausted. The front wall ofthe rest rail is inclined slig'htl y at its lower portion from the face of the pneumatic, providing a passage 19 for air under atmospheric pressure. The passage 19 communicates with the valve chamber 14 through the passage 21 which partly closed by the valve 22 when the valve 15 is raised. This permits air to flow into the valve chamber to fillthe pneumatic when the valve 15 is closed. hen the valve 15 is opened, air flows into the valve chamber from the pneumatic and from the passage 19 and the amount of collapse of the pneumatic is proportional to the degree oi: exhaustion The pneumatic is normally held inflated by the adjustable tension spring 23 secured at one end to the arm 2.4; projecting from the lower end of the pneumatic and secured at its opposite end to the screw 25, en aging an abutment on the valve housing. ll hen an aperture on the tracker bar, corresponding to a given pneumatic, is uncovered, the pneumatic is deflated to an extent corresponding to the exhaustion of the duct 13 and the sectional hammer rest is correspondingly moved back to increase the stroke oi the hammer. The sectional hammer rests may be made in any desired length, so that they may individually operate to vary the stroke of one or more hammers.

Means are provided for mechanically moving the sectional hammer rests to vary the stroke of all of the hammers simultaneously. dotatably mounted on the rest rail is a rod 26 which is connected to a suitable lever, usually termed an accompaniment lever, ar ranged on the control board of the piano,

'so that movement of the lever produces rotation of the rod. Secured to the rod, are a plurality of projections '01" cams 27, one for each sectional rest, and. each cam is con nected to the corresponding sectional rest by a tape 28 or other flexible connection. When the rod is rotated, the tapes are pulled back or released forwardly and the sectional rests are correspondinglyv moved to vary the stroke of the hammers.

The valves for controlling the operation of the pneumatics may be arranged within the pneumatics instead of in the rest rail, as shown.

In operation, when a pneumatic 3, is deflated, the sectional rest 4, attached thereto,

will oscillate on its pivots in the hinge or hearing 8, at the upper end of the swinging leaf 9, of the pneumatic due to the contact oi the rest 4, with the hammer shank 6. In other words, during operation of a pneumatic, frictional contact of the hammer shank 6, with the pad or rest 4, substantially holds these'parts'in stationary relation while the rests, oscillates on its hinge or pivot 8.

I claim:

1. The combination with a tracker board, piano hammers and a stationary rest rail, of pneumatics having backs fixedly arranged on the rest rail, sectional hammer rests attached to the pneumatics and movable by the pneumatics to vary the stroke of selected hammers and means connecting the pneumaties with the tracker board to cause motion of selected pneumatics.

2. The combination with piano hammers and a stationary rest rail arranged in the path of the hammers, of a plurality of pneumatics with backs fixedly mounted on said rail, a sectional hammer rest movably attached to each pneumatic and against which the hammer normally rests and means tor operating the pneumatics to vary the positions of the sectional rests with respect to the hammer rest rail.

3. The combination with piano hammers and a stationary hammer rest rail, of a plurality of pneumatics mounted on said rail, and a sectional hammer rest pivotally attached to each pneumatic.

1. The combination with piano hammers and the usual hammer rest rail, of a plurality oi hinged pneumatics having backs rigidly mounted on said rail with the hinged end down, a sectional hammer rest attached to the upper end. of each pneumatic and. means for individually operating said pneumat-it's.

5. The combination with piano hammers and a hammer rest rail, of a plurality of pneumatics mounted on said rail, a sectional hammer rest attached to each pneumatic, means for individually operating said pneumatics to vary the position of the sectional rests with respect to the hammer rest rail and means for simultaneously moving a plurality of said sectional rests to vary the position of said plurality of rests with respect to the hammer rest rail.

6. The combination with piano hammers and a hammer rest rail, 01. a plurality of pneumatics mounted on said rail, a sectional. hammer rest attached to each pneumatic and an air suction duct arranged to communicate with said plurality of pneumatics disposed in said rail.

7. The combination with piano hammers and a hammer rest rail, of a plurality of pneumatics mounted on said rail, a sectional hammer rest attached to each pneumatic, an air suction duct disposed in said rail, passages connecting said duct with said pneumatics, a valve chamber in each of said passages and a valve in each chamber.

8, The combination with piano hammers and" a hammer rest rail, ot a plurality of pneumatics arranged on the face of said rail, an air suction duct in said rail, connections between said duct and said pneumatics, a valve chamber in each of said connections and an open passage between the neumatics and the face of the rail connected to said valve chamber.

9. The combination with a rest rail, of a series of pneumatics whose backs are secured to the rail, resilient means normally distending the pneumatics individually, a sectional rest attached to each pneumatic to be pneumatically actuated, and manually operable means for simultaneously operating a plurality of the pneumatics with sectional rests.

10. The combination with piano hammers, of a plurality of sectional rests against which said hammers bear, a pneumatic upon which each sectional rest is mounted, a

spring tending to hold said pneumatic in-v flated and means for varying the tension of said spring.

11. The combination with piano hammers and a hammer rest rail, of a lurality of pneumatics mounted on said rai a sectional hammer rest attached to each pneumatic, an air suction duct, connections between the duct and said neumatics, valves in said connections arranged within the pneumatics and connections between the interior of the pneumatics and the atmosphere.

12. The combination with piano hammers, of a plurality of sectional rests against which said hammers bear, and a pneumatic upon the swinging back of which each respective sectional rest is pivotally mounted.

13. The combination wlth piano hammers, of a plurality of sectional rests arranged in front of the hammers, a pneumatic arranged in front of and pivotally attached to each sectional rest, and means attached to each rest for simultaneously collapsing a plurality of the neumatics.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at San Francisco, California, this 13th day of January, 1919.

enoaen o. CHASE.

In presence of H. G. Pnos'r. 

